Music-leaf turner.



E. N. RICH.

I MUSIC LEAF'TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED AUG-19, x915.

1,186,609. Patiented June 13, 1916.

110mm Nlhcn a set position and the lower leaf turning arm EDWIN N. RICH, OF SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO.

MUSIC-LEAF TURNER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented une 13, 1916.

Application filed August 19, 1915. Serial No. 46,227.

I '0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN N. R1011, a citizen of the United States, residing at Santa Fe, in the county of Santa Fe and State of New Mexico, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Music-Leaf Turners, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a music holder and leaf turner, and has for its object to provide a device of this character which can be either built directly into the musical instrument or used as an attachment in connection therewith, and which embodies novel features of construction whereby the leaves of a piece of music can be successively turned in the desired manner by the release of latch members.

Further objects of the invention are to provide a music leaf turner which is comparatively simple and inexpensive in its construction, which will hold either a small piece of music or a thick book of music, which will turn the leaves quickly and with a smooth even movement, which admits of one or more of the leaves being quickly turned back for a repeat, and which can be easily manipulated by the musician.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in certain novel combinationsand arrangements of the parts as will more fully appear as the description proceeds, the novel features thereof being pointed out in the appended claims.

For a full understanding of the invention, reference is to be had to the following description and accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of a music holder and leaf turner constructed in accordance with the invention, all of the leaf turning arms being shown by full lines in a being shown by dotted lines in the position assumed afterbeing released, portions of the device being broken away. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view through the base on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view through the device, on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail view of portions of th operating levers,

showing the resetting arms which admit of all of the leaf turning arms being set at a single operation. Fig. 5 is a. detail view of the swinging end of one of the leaf turning arms, showing the spring clips for engaging the leaf of music.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawing by the same reference characters.

Specifically describing the present embodiment of the invention, the reference character A designates a casing which constitutes the base of the leaf turning device, the front 1 of the casing having a series of horizontally disposed superposed slots 2 therein and being bent upon the arc of a circle of which the pivot bolt 3 is the center, while the back 4 is detachably mounted and removably secured in position by suitable fastening means such as the screws 5. For convenience in assembling the bottom 6 may also be detachable, the rear edge of the bot tom projecting beyond the back A to provide a ledge or flange 7. When the device is applied to a piano as an attachment, the base A would rest upon the shelf at the frontof the piano and the swinging board of the piano moved outwardly to bring the lower edge thereof over the ledge or flange 7. A layer 8 of felt or similar material would be applied to the lower face of the bottom plate 6 and carried around the ledge or flange 7, for the purpose of producing a strong frictional contact between the device and the piano and at the same time preventing the device from scratching or marring the finished surface of the piano.

The top of the casing A is provided at a point toward the rear end thereof with an opening within which a collar 9 is fitted, said collar receiving the lower end of a tubular standard 10 which projects upwardly from the casing and is rigid therewith. A collar 11 is rigidly applied to the upper end of the tubular standard 10, and projecting in opposite directions from this collar are rigid arms 12 having cover engaging clips 13 at the ends thereof. These clips 13 are sufficiently strong to support the piece of 11519 being P y d d may ave a sun cient capacity to engage a whole book containing a large number of pages, only the few pages containing the particular piece being free for operation by the leaf turning mechanism. Extending through the tubular standard 10 is pair of concentric tubes 14 and 15, and a central rod 16, the said members being housed within the tubular standard and being free to rotate independently of each other. In order to prevent undue friction between the several rotary members and the tubular standard, rings 17 are fitted between the same at points toward both the upper and lower ends of the tubular standard. These rings 17 hold the rotary members and the tubular standard in a spaced relation to each other, and greatly reduce the friction so that there is no danger of the parts binding or operating with a jerky movement.

The upper end. i of each of the rotary tubes 14 and 15 and the rod 16 is provided with a head 18, and each of the heads carries a laterally projecting leaf turning arm 19. These leaf turning arms 19 are formed of flat spring material and are of a resilient nature so that the sudden shock in cident to the release of the spring will be outer end of each of the leaf turning arms 19 is provided with a pair of spaced downwardly projecting fingers 20 provided with spring tongues 21 forming clips adapted to engage a sheet of music. It will also be observed that each of the leaf turning arms 19 is formed in two sections which are connected by a strong friction joint 20. This admits of the outer section being swung upwardly and facilitates applying a piece of music to the device in the proper manner. A suitable stop 22 may be provided for limiting the downward swinging movement of the outer section of the leaf turning arm, so that no annoyance will be occasioned by the said outer section swinging downwardly below a point in alinement with the inner section.

The lower ends of the rotary tubes 14 and 15 and the rod 1.6 extend downwardly into the casing A and have the pinions 24 applied to the extremities thereof. The pinions 24 of the tubes 14; and 15 rest upon the forked shelves 25 which project inwardly and are carried by the back 4 of the casing. The outer tube 14 and the leaf carrying arm thereof are thus supported by the upper shelf 25, while the inner tube 15 and leaf carrying arm thereof are supported by the lower shelf 25. The lower end of the rod 16 rests upon the pointed end of the bearing screw 26 which is threaded in the bottom 6 of the casing. This manner of mounting and supporting the rotary members is important, and attention is directed to the fact that a separate support is provided for each rotary member, and the various rotary members are held in a spaced relation by means-of the rings 17 so that not only is friction reduced as much as possible, but the amount of friction incident to the operation of each of the rotary leaf turning members is substantially the same. In the absence of the forked shelves 25, the weight of all of the leaf turning arms and transmission tubes would rest upon the lower pinion 24, and there would be so much friction that unnecessarily heavy springs would be required to operate the mechanism,.such springs being objectionable for the reason that when only a single sheet is to be turned the jerk or shock incident to the sudden release of the spring would tend to tear the paper and mutilate the music.

Pivotally mount-ed upon the upright pivot bolt 3 is a series of superposed operating levers 28, the inner end of each of the said levers being provided with a segmental rack 29 which meshes with one of the pinions 24, while the outer end of the operating lever is tubular and has a plunger 30 slidably mounted therein. The outer end of each of the operating levers 28 is also engaged by one end of a tension spring 31, the opposite end of the spring extending through one side of the casing A and being connected to a spring supporting bracket 32 projecting therefrom. The plungers 3O operate within the before mentioned horizontal slots 2 in the front 1 of the casing, the ends of the slots providing stops which cooperate with the pl'ungers to limit the amplitude of movement of the operating levers and the leaf turning arms.

The outer ends of the plungers 30 project beyond the front of the casing A and have finger pieces 33 applied to the extremities thereof. It will also be observed that coil springs 34 are housed within the tubular outer ends of the operating levers 28 and engage the inner ends of the plungers 30 to normally force the same outwardly and hold them yieldingly in an operative position. Any suitable means may be provided for limiting the in and out sliding movements of the plunger-s 30, and in the present instance transverse pins 35 are shown as extending through the plungers and operating within longitudinal slots in the operating levers 28. Each of the plunger-s 30 is provided with a stop collar 37 which is adapted to engage a shoulder 38 on the inner face of the front 1 of the casing to hold the operating lever in a set position against the action of the spring 81. In order to release the operating lever and turn the corresponding at l sheet of music, it. is merely necessary for the musician to press inwardly upon the finger piece 33 at the outer end of the plunger 30. When the plunger 30 is thus pushed inwardly, the stop collar 37 is disengaged from the stop shoulder 38 so that the spring 31 can swing the operating lever and turn the sheet of music. The various sheets of music are consecutively turned by successively pressing inwardly upon the several finger pieces 33. In the present instance there are three leaf turning arms 19 and three finger pieces 33, so that three sheets of music can be handled and turned consecutively in the desired manner.

Each of the upper operating levers 28 is provided upon the inner end thereof with a downwardly projecting resetting arm 39 adapted to engage the next lower operating lever to swing the same back into a set position when any of the upper operating levers are moved into a set position. All of the leaf turning arms and operating levers can thus be simultaneously swung into a set position by the single operation of moving the upper operating lever 28 into a set po sition, and the various operating levers will be automatically locked in a set position by engagement of the stop collars 37 with stop shoulders 38. In this connection it will be noted that the stop shoulders 38 have an inclined or cam face for cooperation with the stop collars 37 to move the plungers 30 in wardly against the action of the spring 34: when the device is being reset. As soon as the operating levers have been swung into engagement with the ends of the slots 2 the stop collars 37 clear the stop shoulders 38 and spring into a locking engagement with the square shoulders thereof. The resetting arms 39 admit of all of the leaf turning arms being simultaneously swung back for a repeat with a single operation of the player, and in a similar manner any desired number of leaves which may have been turned can be brought back for the purpose of repeating any desired parts of the music. regardless of whether it be at the front of the piece or in the middle thereof. The transmission tubes 14 and 15, together with the transmission rod 16, are all housed within the tubular standard 10 so that the piece of music or music book will not come into contact with the said members or frictionally engage any moving part of the device. Even a slight pressure of the book against a moving part would make the device worthless, since strong springs would be necessary to insure turning of the leaves when released, and the use of strong springs would result in a sudden jerky movement which would tend to tear the music and cause the music to jump. With the present manner of mounting the transmission tubes and transmission rod, and the use of the resilient leaf turning arms 19, springs of just the proper strength can be employed, and as soon as the latch or detent is released the leaf-is quickly turned with a smooth even movement. This is essential to the successful operation of a device of this character, and the independent supporting means for each of the rotary transmission members, as well as the spacing rings 17 between the same, is very important.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A music leaf turner, including a base, a series of concentric rotatably mounted transmission members projecting upwardly from the base, leaf turning arms carried by the respective transmission members, pinions applied to the lower ends of the transmission members, a pivot pin, a series of operating levers pivotally mounted at intermediate points in their length upon the pivot pin and having the inner ends thereof provided with segmental racks meshing with the respective pinions of the transmission member springs engaging the operating levers to swing the same, spring plungers slidably mounted upon the outer ends of the operating levers, and detent means controlled by the spring plungers for holding the operating levers against the action of the springs.

2. A music leaf turner, including a base, a series of concentric rotatably mounted transmission members projecting upwardly from the base, leaf turning arms carried by the respective transmission members, pinions applied to the lower ends of the transmission members, a pivot pin, a series of ope 'ating levers pivotally mounted upon the pivot pin and having the inner ends thereof provided with segmental racks meshing with the respective pinions, while the outer ends thereof have a tubular formation, springs engaging the operating levers to swing the same, spring plungers mounted within the tubular outer ends of the operating levers, and detent means controlled by the spring plungers for holding the operating levers against the action of the springs.

3. A music leaf turner, including a hollow base having a series of slots in the front thereof, a series of concentric and rotatably mounted transmission members projecting upwardly from the base, leaf turning arms carried by the respective transmission members, pinions applied to the lower ends of the transmission members, a pivot pin, operating levers mounted upon the pivot pin and provided at their inner ends with segmental racks meshing with the inner ends of the respective pinions, while the outer ing the operating levers against the action)! 10 ends thereof have a tubular formation, the springs.

springs engaging the operating levers to In testimony whereof I afiix my signature swing the same when releases, plungers slidin the presence of two Witnesses.

5 ably mounted Within the tu ular outer ends of the operating levers and projecting EDWIN RICH through the respective slots in the front of \Vitnesses: the base, and cooperating shoulders upon NORA E. SUMMERS, the plungers and front of the base for hold- SARAH A. MORGAN.

(topic: of 1:111! patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addrenln: the "Comminlonu of Ram Washington, D. C. 

